An egret comes in for a landing on the back of a cow in a field off of Buena Vista Road, Wednesday, July 12, 2006, southeast of Bakersfield, Calif.

An egret comes in for a landing on the back of a cow in a field off of Buena Vista Road, Wednesday, July 12, 2006, southeast of Bakersfield, Calif.

Photo: Casey Christie, AP

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Cattle are shown on Joe Gonzales' ranch in Gilroy, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. California's worst drought in decades is forcing the state's cattle ranchers to downsize their herds because two years of poor rainfall have ravaged millions of acres of rangeland used to feed their cows and calves. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less

Cattle are shown on Joe Gonzales' ranch in Gilroy, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. California's worst drought in decades is forcing the state's cattle ranchers to downsize their herds because two years of poor ... more

Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP

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Family farmers need livestock market reforms

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I met an advertising man once who spent the better part of an hour explaining to me why the farmer and the cowboy are America's most enduring and iconic images. Growing up on my family's farm in Iowa made me skeptical. But I recognize that the concept of American agriculture that most of us hold in our minds is that of the owner-operated, family farm or ranch.

We imagine men and women living and working on farms and ranches that they own, determining their own destiny, making their own decisions and remaining fiercely independent and self-sufficient. Above and beyond the food they raise, family farmers and ranchers are America's original and most quintessential entrepreneurs. They are the cornerstone of America's economy and the wellspring of our nation's values. And they are the stewards of vast stretches of rural America's remotest and most beautiful landscapes, including the sprawling vistas that define rural California.

The economic survival of family farmers and ranchers in California and throughout rural America depends, however, on access to markets for their crops and livestock that are based on fair competition - a fair shot for ordinary folks who work hard and do a good job.

Unfortunately, livestock markets don't work that way anymore. If you raise cattle or hogs, then you sell into a dysfunctional market where packers hold all the cards and routinely discriminate against smaller farmers and ranchers by offering huge, volume-based premiums to large factory farms (and deep discounts to smaller farmers and ranchers).

How huge?

A small hog farmer in Iowa marketing 3,500 hogs annually and receiving a conservative, small-volume discount of 6 cents per pound would endure a yearly loss of $52,500 - simply for being small.

A small California rancher who feeds a couple thousand head of cattle would experience even greater losses.

And this discriminatory pricing against family farm and ranch livestock producers has taken its toll. In 1980 there were more than 1.3 million ranches and farms with cattle nationally. Today, fewer than 950,000 are still in operation. In 1980 there were also more than 666,000 hog farms, but that number has declined to fewer than 67,000.

In Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Lochhead's Jan. 30 report on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposals to reform the livestock market, she quoted John Tarpoff, Niman Ranch vice president for beef. Tarpoff said that the USDA's proposed livestock market reform rules would "hammer" Niman Ranch and their producers. However, nothing could be further from the truth because nothing in the rules proposed by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would preclude Niman Ranch from paying its producers premiums for the quality and special attributes of their cattle and hogs.

I've met Bill Niman, the company founder (who is no longer affiliated with the ranch). He knows that without family farmers and ranchers acting as stewards of working lands that they own, the beauty and vitality of rural America's greatest natural assets will be lost forever.

If we want a future with thriving family farms and ranches, vibrant rural landscapes, quality food and the chance to realize the American dream, then we have do what Niman did - build it, work for it, even fight for it.

The USDA's effort to reform livestock markets and bolster competition is a bold stand in defense of that American dream, and it is worthy of our support.